For anyone that is new to the remote workforce, it can be a challenge. There tend to be a lot more distractions, motivation is harder to maintain and not to mention how lonely it can get. However, there are a few simple things you could be doing to make the most out of working remotely. Below is how our team manages remote working every day.

Keep communication open, ongoing & transparent

Work politics are inevitable in any organisation. Someone used the rest of the milk, so and so types on their keyboard too loudly or some other issue that now seems insignificant. However, when working from home it can be harder to navigate the seemingly simple issues of day-to-day office life. For some reason, digital meetings make it harder to address issues you may have with others and can make it more difficult to communicate on a meaningful level. By actively keeping communication loops going with scheduled WIP times, casual digital hangout sessions and manager one-on-ones, you’re ensuring that your team won’t lose the communication basics and transparency will remain, even when remote.

Offer flexible working arrangements

The beauty of remote working is flexibility, we recommend embracing it! By allowing your team to work within flexible arrangements they’re able to do common tasks throughout their workday i.e. picking the kids up, going to the doctors or exercising midday. By offering this flexibility, you’re showing trust in your employees and a deeper understanding of remote working. You’ll notice that productivity increases and so does job satisfaction!

Encourage accountability for your team

The single best thing you can do for your team is trust them. When you trust your team, this creates a sense of accountability over their work. Your team will want to deliver for you, to the best of their ability, because it’s their reputation on the line.

Of course, there need to be a number of rules in place so you’re team know boundaries to stick within. Some examples would be, responding to emails within 24 hours, answering calls from clients within working times or being available for meetings at key times.

Focus on your goals, not your tracked time

You’ll have to accept that your staff won’t necessarily track all of their time. Sometimes it’ll appear under, over or just right and that’s okay. An important measure of productivity and success is client satisfaction or goal kicking. Is your team accomplishing all of their set goals? Are your clients raving about how great outcomes are? If the answer is yes to either of these, it’s time to quit watching the clock of your team and start appreciating the work that they’re putting in.

Convey emotion with video or emojis

This point may seem silly, however, is arguably the most important. Emojis, video, gifs – whatever you want to use – is important to convey emotion to your team. It’s easy for us as humans to fall into a complacent way of communicating with one another. Short messages with zero emotion can be the quickest paths towards dissatisfaction and potentially increase the feeling of loneliness.

Think back at the last message you had from your team, how did it make you feel? Was there any emotion? If not, did you feel less happy in any way or second guess that person’s emotions towards you? Human’s are emotional beings and during a time of remote working, those emotions can be hypersensitised. If a simple emoji or gif will put a smile on someone’s face, seems worth it – right?

Why we’re confident in remote working

MVP Asia Pacific has had a remote team in the Philippines for years accommodating many clients needs across marketing, technology, design and customer service. We’ve learnt the ins and outs of remote team management and feel confident in sharing our tips with you.

If you’d like to know more or cut your overhead costs by up to 75%, contact our team today.